


Certain

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Hamlet - Shakespeare
Genre: Covert Operation, Fandom Stocking 2013, Gen, Gift Fic, Insanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-04-11 21:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4453550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hamlet just had to be certain</p>
            </blockquote>





	Certain

**Author's Note:**

> For Aeriel. I hope you like it!

Hamlet watched as Ophelia moped around her chambers. He had never before cared about the back corridors and peepholes that the palace servants used, but now they seemed essential. He could observe each of his subjects, as one would observe test mice in a maze. He could watch them react to his madness, and interact with each other, and he could pinpoint the exact spread of the blight that was poisoning his Denmark.

Claudius was the source, he was certain, though his dear mother was a close second. Perhaps one who had absorbed so much poison herself that she too began to extrude it, simply as a survival tactic.

But the extent - that was what Hamlet needed to determine. How far had Claudius spread his lies? How many of the men held true loyalty for him? Was Hamlet's own beloved Ophelia under his spell? Her father seemed to be, but Ophelia had always been enigmatic. It was part of what he loved about her, but it was now the very thing that stood in the way of his final plans.

Could he trust her? Could he share his plans with her and be absolutely certain that she would not betray him? His heart wanted to believe, but his head insisted that he test her first.

He watched through the secret bookshelf panel as she cried on her bed, and his heart wanted to comfort her. But his head stewed with suspicion. Was she perhaps acting? Were those heaving sobs concealing laughter instead of tears? Was she crying, but for the loss of her cozy place at his side that Claudius needed her to maintain?

He simply wasn't sure. He wished he could comfort her, but he needed to be sure. The future of his family's line relied on it. The future of all of Denmark relied on it.

Hamlet just had to be certain.


End file.
